The present invention relates to a hub, in particular also for bicycles. The hub according to the invention is in particular suitable to be employed in a front wheel hub equipped with a through axle.
Hubs have become known in the prior art and in particular hubs for front wheels comprising through axles. These hubs comprise a hub shell at each end of which a bearing is received in a bearing seat. To retain the inner bearing rings at a defined distance, a sleeve is positioned between the inner bearing rings to retain the inner bearing rings at a defined axial distance from one another.
During mounting, the through axle is inserted through the inner bearing ring on one face of the hub. Thereafter the through axle must be passed through the sleeve which serves as a spacer between the bearings. The sleeve is configured with the thinnest feasible wall to save unnecessary weight. This is why the sleeve, which in a non-mounted state tends to be loosely arranged, rests on what is currently the radial bottom of the internal hub shell wall. This is why the through axle cannot be readily inserted into the sleeve because in this state the sleeve is not centered, the upper sleeve wall impeding insertion of the through axle.
To allow inserting the through axle into the sleeve, the user must therefore insert his finger or a tool into the hub from the other side, centering the sleeve in the hub shell such that the through axle can be inserted into the sleeve through the centrally disposed opening.
In particular since the entire front wheel must often be conveniently aligned relative to the dropouts of the front wheel fork, such sleeve alignment is a awkward additional action, unnecessarily time-demanding and often involving a number of attempts or a suitable tool.
One solution to this problem may be, to dispense with a through axle, employing instead a so-called hollow axle on which the bearings are arranged and through which a quick release or the like is passed for fastening the hub and the wheel to the fork.
These wheels with hollow axles operate reliably and have been used for a long time. In particular in mountain-biking, however, high or extremely high lateral loads as well as torsional loads on the wheel tend to occur. This is why a particularly high rigidity of the wheel is desired. For this purpose, through axles generally offer the advantage of a higher lateral rigidity.
Against the described background of the prior art it is therefore the object of the present invention to provide a hub, in particular for a bicycle, which allows greater ease of mounting while employing a through axle.